Fredrickson reminded us of what’s known about emotions: they are micro-moments, lasting seconds or perhaps minutes, like waves lapping a shore. To try to hold on to a particular positive emotion is like trying to grab hold of a particular wave and not let it go.

But having more positive emotions does expand our awareness and openness to experience. Fredrickson reported on work with Melissa Gross where they put little sensors on people’s bodies and then evoked different emotional states. With upbeat, joyful, even serene emotions, there is more expansion of the torso and peripheral vision expands. They also found that postures are contagious. Seeing someone else with an expanded torso tended to cause people to expand their own.

Upward Spiral

Fredrickson characterized positive emotions as nutrients that contribute to resilience, heart health, and immune health. The relationship between positive emotions and good health is an indirect one that she characterized as an upward spiral. To read the figure to the left, think of each arrow as a probabilistic link with some drop off. For example, for the arrow between Positive Emotions and Positive Meanings, there can be a drop off for positive emotions that do not contribute to greater meaning, and thus not to spiraling toward greater health.

Cautions about Positive Emotion

Dr. Fredrickson warned that positive emotions need to match the situation. Research by Oettingen and colleagues suggests that unrealistically positive fantasies about handling difficult situations can lead to positive emotion in the present but greater likelihood of depression in the future. Mauss and colleagues have suggested that excessively focusing on happiness can lead to constant monitoring of happiness, “Am I happy now?” This can lead to more depression.

In the delicate art of pursuing positivity without becoming unrealistic or too focused on personal happiness, she reminded us of James Gross’s model of emotional regulation strategies. In his words, emotional regulation “refers to how we try to influence which emotions we have, when we have them, and how we experience and express these emotions.” Gross describes five strategies for regulating emotion briefly explained here, but more fully explained in his book chapter in the references.

Situation selection: taking action to put ourselves in situations that are more likely to lead to emotions we want to have

Situation modification: taking action to change the way we experience a potentially upsetting situation, such as turning an embarrassing moment into a joke

Attention deployment: Redirecting attention within a specific situation. I do this when I recite poetry to myself in the dentist chair.

Cognitive change: Changing the way we interpret a specific situation. Interpreting a negative situation as non-permanent and non-pervasive is a type of cognitive change.

Response modulation: Changing the way we experience a particular emotion, such as hiding anger or taking a few deep breaths to calm down.

Fredrickson pointed out that these are listed in decreasing order of effectiveness. Thus it is more effective to select situations that lead to positive emotion than to try to will oneself into feeling positive about inherently unpleasant situations.

Prioritizing positivity means selecting situations that are more likely to lead to positive emotions. So for example, check out the to-do list to the right. This young person included Play! in addition to spelling, math, and rehearsal. Some people focus only on what needs to get done, while others prioritize positivity by also including activities that are likely to lead to positive emotion.

Lahnna Catalino has led studies in Fredrickson’s lab on how much people prioritize positivity. The short survey to measure positivity prioritization includes questions such as

I look for and nurture my positive emotions.

What I decide to do with my time outside of work is influenced by how much I might experience positive emotions.

My major decisions in life (e.g., the job I choose, the house I buy) are influenced by how much I might experience positive emotions.

They also measured actual experience of positive emotions and the degree to which people value happiness. They found that people that scored high on prioritizing positivity tended to have more positive emotions, while those that excessively valued happiness tended to have fewer positive emotions. In a study of one-time exposure to meditation, Fredrickson’s team found that those that scored high on prioritizing positivity were more likely to practice, suggesting that people that prioritize positivity are more likely to make the effort to make it happen.

Fredrickson reflected that prioritizing positivity is not a stable personality trait. It can be increased with intention and practice. For example, in a recent study, one group read a short passage about the value of prioritizing positive emotion while a control group read an article that mentioned positivity as many times (to control for priming) but without mentioning prioritizing. The study group was more likely to savor a positive experience, such as lingering longer looking at a beautiful picture. In another recent study, they found that loving-kindness meditation tends to increase positivity prioritization. (The studies mentioned in this paragraph are so recent that I couldn’t find citations. I hope they will show up soon on Dr. Fredrickson’s publication page.)

Over the long term, people that prioritize positivity have more positive experiences which lead to more spontaneous positive thoughts. With intention, these positive thoughts can be linked to behaviors that are good for us, as I described in my report on Dr. Fredrickson’s IPPA presentation last summer.

A Closing Micro-Intervention suggested by Dr. Fredrickson

Instead of wishful thinking about the future, put actions on today’s to-do list that bring you joy.

Author’s Note: My husband always has a to-do list, and he has told me over and over that I should always pick the highest priority task ready to run, and if I don’t know what the highest priority task is, the highest priority task is to figure it out.

I confess that I have trouble running my life this way. Sometimes I do things that may not be time critical because I feel they’d give me a few minutes of fun or joy in the middle of the day.

But then, he’s the person that puts “Have fun,” “Relaxation,” and “Do something to help somebody else,” on his to-do list.

So perhaps this is another instance of people reaching the same goal in highly individual ways.

Kathryn Britton is a coach working with professionals to increase well-being, energy, and meaning. She teaches positive workplace concepts at the University of Maryland and blogs irregularly at Positive Psychology Reflections.

5 comments

Hi, Kathryn, Thanks for the your synopsis of Barbara Fredrickson’s CPPA speech. Your inforgraph was especially appreciated. I put reading your latest on positive emotions research here at the top of my joy list today. Thanks for reminding us to make PE’s a part of our daily awareness focus. Your sentences, “Over the long term, people that prioritize positivity have more positive experiences which lead to more spontaneous positive thoughts. With intention, these positive thoughts can be linked to behaviors that are good for us…” was of particular interest. I am mirroring JOY back at you and to all your appreciative readers, too. Off to play! Thanks, again, for all you contribute.

Thanks, Judy. It’s always fun to report on Barbara Fredrickson because the message keeps growing new tentacles. First it was positivity, then it was love as positivity resonance, then it was linking spontaneous positive thoughts to wellness, and now it is making an honored place for positivity in our busy lives. Love to watch the message grow, and to meet new researchers like her post-doc, Dr. Lahnna Catalino. Plus Dr. Fredrickson makes the papers easy for all to find.

Hi Kathryn,
thanks for this great summary of Barbara’s talk. I heard her speak in Angers and like you was struck by the simplicity and importance of the ‘situation selection and modification’ options for generating positivity. Too often I think we try to push it uphill to change our response to toxic situations when the smart move is to modify the situation or select another one. Expanding our understanding of the role of context in wellbeing fits in here too 🙂
thanks for a great article
Denise

Looking for a Positive Psychology Course Near You?

If you are teaching or know someone who is teaching a course, please enter the positive psychology course information here for everyone to see! This is a public list, so please be aware of that when entering your email address:Enter Your Positive Psychology Course Info HERE